Brands are struggling to ensure that third-party retailers match their own high standards. E-retailers frequently let down brands by failing to follow listing guidelines, leading to sub-par product presentation that can impact sales potential.

In this forthcoming series of Wave articles, we will explore how brands can increase sales on third-party retailers by improving their listings and ensuring that online partners follow brand guidelines. This article will assess imagery and video inconsistencies between brands' own best practice guidelines and third-party retailers. We will focus on the fashion industry, which faces an enormous challenge ensuring that guidelines are followed across thousands of products and sites.

Product imagery boosts sales potential, but third party retailers often deviate from brands' guidelines:

Burberry’s Baynard Tote has seven images on the official brand site, including one with the bag being modelled. However, Selfridges and Nordstrom only have four images each, with Selfridges listing the item without showing it being modelled. Therefore, the listings do not follow the same standards as Burberry's own site, leading to a less compelling listing.

Example: key third-party websites are missing the full range of images for Ted Baker's Nyal blazer

Ted Baker includes seven product images on their own site for the Nyal Herringbone blazer. However, third party retailers including House of Fraser, John Lewis and Selfridges are missing this full variety, meaning consumers shopping on these sites will encounter a listing that does not meet Ted Baker's high standards.

Bench’s One Timer jacket is accompanied by five product demonstration videos that highlight the KSPs on its own eCommerce site. Despite expending time and money producing these videos, listings on Nordstrom, Kolibri Shop and SurfDome do not have these videos.This means that third-party sites are missing the opportunity to increase sales for Bench products.

Example: Burberry video content is missing from third-party retailers

Burberry’s site has promotional video content for its Heritage trench coat collection. However, Selfridges and StyleBop do not feature any videos of the product.

Imagery and videos are crucial for product listings, providing visual context that informs consumers' purchase decisions, ultimately leading to increased sales. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that listings comply with high standards set on brands' own eCommerce sites, especially in the busy sales period leading up to Christmas. Measuring imagery and video across online retail partners can form part of a solution to improve eCommerce and maintain best practice ahead of competitors, leading to increased sales on third-party retailers.

Our next Wave will examine how brands can ensure compliance across product titles and pricing to ensure that third-party sites uphold the brand image.